Dionisie Eclesiarhul, also spelled Ecleziarhul, Eclisiarchul, or Eclesiarcul ("the Ecclesiarch", born Dumitru or Dimitrie, also credited as Dionisie din Pietrari and Dionisie Cozăianul; ), was a Wallachian monk, chronicler, and polemicist, also noted as a miniaturist and calligrapher. His life coincided with the Phanariote reigns, when a series of Wallachian Princes, generally Greeks, enforced Hellenization; Dionisie secretly resented this process, and rallied with a Wallachian conservative patriotism that bordered on Romanian nationalism. Wallachia was also a tributary state of the Ottoman Empire, which Dionisie viewed as a detestable overlord. A devout Eastern Orthodox (though he questioned the Ecumenical Patriarchate on political grounds), he spent his life in service to the Metropolis of Wallachia, which is now a component of the Romanian Orthodox Church. Lastly, he displayed a regional allegiance to Oltenia, which was then administered as a Great Banship under Wallachian supervision, and where he spent almost all his life.
After a short career as a married priest, Dionisie became a prolific scribe, finishing he Dobrușa beadroll in 1777. He was treasured by the Râmnic Archdiocese, where he served administrative functions while also becoming a highly skilled calligrapher in several languages. His historical writing is unusual for its context in that it relies heavily on first-hand experiences—one of the first such events is the Austro-Turkish War of 1788, during which Dionisie and his fellow monks were held as hostages in Craiova. The war also gave him what may have been his only experience of life outside Wallachia, namely an extended tour of Habsburg Hungary. Marginalized upon his return, he withdrew into regular monastic life, witnessing Oltenia's ruin, brought on by warlord Osman Pazvantoğlu—whom he depicted as a half-legendary figure—and the economic constraints introduced by the Napoleonic Wars. In his later chronicle, he depicts Napoleon as a negative figure, recording some of the rumors which circulated in respect to him; he also published translations of works dealing with Napoleon's eventual defeat.
After a brief return to favor and settlement in Bucharest, the Ecclesiarch was again expelled to Craiova, where he apparently spent the rest of his life, in 1814. It was here that he began writing his chronicle, known as Hronograful Țerei Românești, which also outlines his political vision—his critique of the Phanariotes, balanced by nuanced portrayals of individual princes such as Nicholas Mavrogenes, his contempt toward Westernization, and his appreciation for the Russian Empire. Though not generally seen as reliable on world events, he became a credited source for details on the Ottomans' abuse toward the boyar elite, and their humiliating execution of Prince Constantin Hangerli. His narrative is intertwined with naive accounts of the Kalmyks' alleged cannibalism, or his belief that the Russians had perfected poison gas. Some controversy endures about his work as a visual artist, since miniatures attributed to him are of varying quality—those which are certainly his are widely considered as the less accomplished ones, though sometimes commended for bridging canonical Byzantine and local naive art.
Biography Youthful experiences Among the later reviewers of his work, Radu Constantinescu, Algeria Simota, Octav Păun and Marin Sorescu argued that Dionisie was born as "Dumitru" at Pietrari, Vâlcea County.Constantinescu, p. 21; Dima et al., p. 124; Simota, p. 282; Sorescu, p. 3 Sorescu, alongside scholars such as Constantinescu and Lucian Boia, gave his birth year as 1759.Boia, p. 88; Constantinescu, pp. 6, 21; Sorescu, p. 3 Such information was rectified and amended by historians Dumitru Bălașa and Nicolae Stoicescu. As reported by them, Dionisie, known rather as "Dimitrie", was born at Stoenești, just northeast of Pietrari, "in or around 1740".Teodor Nedelcea, "Viața cărților. Ediții. O reeditare neașteptată", in Luceafărul, Vol. XXXI, Issue 14, April 1988, p. 2 He was also of confirmed "peasant origin", with Simota naming his father as Alexie and his mother (known to have served as a nun in later life) as Aspazia.Simota, p. 282 Various records mention that he completed a primary-school education in Stoenești. He returned to his home village as a married priest; it was only after the death of his wife that he decided to take orders, possibly by entering Horezu Monastery. His earliest affiliation is subject to some disagreement: Simota indicates Tismana, while critic and historian Șerban Cioculescu argues for Cozia.Șerban Cioculescu, "Breviar. De la Macedonski la Arghezi", in România Literară, Issue 26/1975, p. 7 According to Sorescu, during his training he was colleagues with Naum Râmniceanu, himself a future historian, with a similar take on world affairs.Sorescu, p. 14
Dionisie's life, mostly spent in the Wallachian subregion of Oltenia (the Great Banship), coincided with the mid-to-final stages of the Phanariote period. Wallachia and Moldavia, as the Romanian-inhabited Danubian Principalities, were governed by a Greek administrative class, which had also integrated with the local boyardom. Constantinescu notes that, in Dionisie's day, Phanariote dynasties had abandoned their early practice of regulating the "despotic system of taxation", and, beginning with Ștefan Racoviță's reign in the 1760s, were pushing for all-out spoliation.Constantinescu, pp. 7–10 As summarized by historian Neagu Djuvara, this era saw the Princes (also known as hospodars) entirely committed to "obtain[ing] that which they desire[d] through lawlessness, preying, and villainy".Djuvara, p. 24 The two countries were likewise tributary polities of the Ottoman Empire. Their sovereignty had been much reduced under the Phanariotes, who, in addition to displaying "a near-complete fidelity toward the Porte, down to 1774",Cernovodeanu, p. 10 also exposed their subjects to intense Hellenization. In that context, Dionisie the chronicler illustrated the "natural reactions against Greek influence".Dima et al., p. 13
The Russo-Turkish War of 1768 was a major event in Romanian history. It concluded in 1774 with the Treaty of Küçük Kaynarca, which signaled a decline of the Ottoman Empire, as well as "sweeping contacts with the West and with Russia" for both Principalities. Dionisie was by then foremost active as a scribe, whose earliest works of note include a beadroll (pomelnic) of the monastery in Dobrușa, finished in 1777.Constantinescu, pp. 21, 25; Simota, p. 283 As noted in his later chronicle, this period was one of "terrible oppression" under the Ottomans, who went as far as to publicly humiliate the boyars and their retinues.Constantinescu, p. 21 Also evidencing himself as a calligrapher and archivist, widely seen as very intellectually gifted, Dionisie climbed rather quickly through the religious hierarchy, from Hieromonk to Ecclesiarch of the Râmnic Archdiocese. Its Bishop, Filaret, may have retained him as a favorite in 1786.Constantinescu, p. 23; Dima et al., p. 124; Simota, p. 282
The future chronicler became educated by 18th-century standards. Sorescu describes Dionisie's "wonderful lettering" in Romanian Cyrillic, Church Slavonic, as well as Latin; the same author takes this to mean that Eclesiarhul was a polyglot, in addition to being exceptionally versed in the canons of Orthodoxy.Sorescu, p. 3 Dionisie, who once detailed his efforts in rendering Slavonic documents (calling the language sârbie, "Serbian"),Constantinescu, p. 26 was also familiar with Russian, and, at an unknown date, translated into Romanian a tract called Stavrofilia, as Calea împărătească a crucii Domnului.Simota, p. 283 Păun suggests that he could understand not just Slavonic and Russian, but also Ottoman Turkish.Dima et al., p. 124 Literary historian Tudor Nedelcea similarly notes that Dionisie could speak several languages, and also that he seemed to have grasped geography (including topography) and arithmetic. Boia challenges such accounts, noting that Dionisie had a "modest culture" to match his social origin, whereas Naum's was "evidently superior".Boia, pp. 88–89 Constantinescu likewise argues that Dionisie "was not a man of high learning". Despite numerous opportunities to improve himself, he is only known to have read some four works of theology and at least one chronicle.Constantinescu, pp. 27–28
In 1786, Dionisie penned a three-volume register of the Bishopric. Some clues about his debut as a historian are found in his account of the Austro-Turkish War of 1788, which includes "strategic details, portraits of commanders, and troop movements", discussing at length the occupation of Craiova and Bucharest (respectively, Oltenia and Wallachia's capitals) by the Imperial Army of the Habsburg monarchy, ending in decimation by an outbreak of typhoid fever. His status as an eyewitness is specified further in another fragment of a monastery register, dated to November 1788. Here, he clarifies that he was a captive in Craiova, alongside the other monks, being closely watched by the cumpliți volontiri nemțești ("terrifying German volunteers");Bucur, p. 68 he also reports learning from a Logothetes aide in Bucharest that soldiers of the Habsburg and Imperial Russian armies, who together occupied the city, were engaged in raucous fistfights which entertained the Wallachians.Constantinescu, p. 23 In 1789, Dionisie was a refugee in the Transylvania and Habsburg Hungary, leaving an account of his travels there. According to Păun, he shared this temporary home with Naum. This is partly contradicted by Boia, who notes that Naum went there as a prisoner, whereas Dionisie was part of Metropolitan Filaret's formal retinue, possibly stationed in Buda.Boia, pp. 88–90 Simota believes that Filaret took both his monks with him, passing through Petrovaradin. The detail about Buda, she notes, can be traced to Dionisie's description of the Királyi Vár.Simota, p. 282. See also Constantinescu, p. 23
Marginalization and retirement Dionisie returned to Râmnicu Vâlcea at some point in or before 1791, when the Treaty of Sistova was brokered, and proceeded to copy a register for the monastic community in Strehaia.Simota, pp. 282, 283 He was probably escaping the plague epidemic, which took him to Strehaia, Sadova (in 1792), Jitianu (1793), and Drăgășani (1794).Constantinescu, pp. 23–24 It also appears that he then fell out of favor with Filaret's successors, which is why he had to renounce his position at the Archdiocese. He returned to regular monastic life, passing through Bistrița, Govora, and finally Arnota. The dates of his stay at either monastery are unclear, though he is believed to have been residing at Bistrița, where his work was supervised by Logothete Răducan sin Dumitrache, in 1795. That year appears in his manuscript copy of the monastery register, under miniatures showing the church, icons of The Virgin Mary and Gregory of Dekapolis, and a portrait of Archimandrite Nectarie.Ion Ionașcu, "Lucruri noi despre cronicarul Dumitrache", in Revista Istorică Română, Vol. IX, 1939, p. 261 Constantinescu believes that it was only in the early 1790s that Dionisie trained as a watercolorist (zugrav de subțire), being directly supervised by Ioan Zugrav and, possibly, by Manea Zugrav as well.Constantinescu, p. 41